This invention relates to symbol manipulation in electronic data processing systems, and more particularly to methods for altering the representation of ages, names, and proverbs in electronic data processing systems.
People have an intense interest in their personal characteristics. Since Gilgamesh of the Sumerian-Babylonian epic traveled to King Utnapishtim to learn the secret of eternal life, and especially in modern youth-oriented culture, concern about aging has inspired solutions both fictional (the xe2x80x9cfountain of youthxe2x80x9d) and non-fictional (cosmetic surgery). Personal names are similarly important. As Dale Carnegie observed, a person""s name is his or her favorite word. With perhaps somewhat less intensity, people are also interested in brief and witty commentary, often in the form of proverbs, on the future, their relationships with other people, and other familiar items.
Although people generally express their age and other numbers in base 10 notation, i.e., each digit has 10 potential values (0 through 9), it is common in certain fields for alternate base notations to be used. For example, computer hardware generally uses two different states to represent single units of information, and it is therefore generally convenient for computer scientists to represent numbers using base 2 notation (this binary system conventionally uses the symbols xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d to represent the two available states). Similarly, computer scientists sometimes represent numbers using base 8 (octal) and base 16 (hexadecimal) notations since these representations are more compact than base 2 notation and can be converted to base 2 notation without extensive calculations.
Although any symbol set with a sufficient number of distinct symbols can be used to express numbers using a specified base, it has been traditional to use all or portions of the normal base 10 symbol set, consisting of the numerals xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c3xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c4xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c5xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c6xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9c9xe2x80x9d, in combination with letters of the alphabet to represent numbers in any base. For example, 10 (in base 10 notation) is expressed as the letter xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d in base 12 notation. A number expressed in a notation other than base 10 may, for example, consist only of symbols taken from the normal base 10 symbol set and thus can be mistakenly interpreted as a number expressed in base 10 notation. If, however, a number is expressed in a notation other than base 10 and contains letters of the alphabet, then it will be clear that the number, if it is recognized as a number at all, is not expressed in base 10 notation. Any number can, however, be converted from base 10 notation to some other base notation in which the number is still expressed only in symbols taken from the normal base 10 symbol set.
While an unlimited number of bases for numerical representation are available, most bases are not commonly used. Methods for converting between any two specified bases are, however, known to mathematicians.
Ages, of course, are conventionally expressed mathematically in base 10. Strangely, people are frequently dissatisfied with their age. Relatively small age numbers are often taken to represent a lack of experience and maturity. On the other hand, relatively large age numbers are often taken to represent feebleness, mental inflexibility, and other undesirable characteristics. Thus, the young wish to acquire larger age numbers while the old wish to acquire smaller age numbers.
Just as numbers may be represented by a variety of notations, personal names can also be expressed by multiple notations. This commonly occurs in translating names into foreign languages. Other possible notations for names are also available. The most commonly used names are not new creations. They typically have rich histories of use, often dating back to the Hebrew Bible or Ancient Greece. As a result, there exist various cognates for current names drawn from around the world through recorded history. Further, a common naming practice in many cultures (referred to here as xe2x80x9cdescriptive namingxe2x80x9d) has been to append to the given name an adjective, such as xe2x80x9cthe Great,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cthe Red,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cthe Berserk,xe2x80x9d that describes the person.
People in many modern cultures generally have given names that are selected from a relatively small pool of choices. Some of these people wish to experience unfamiliar and perhaps more descriptive names.
Many people also enjoy the succinct wit and wisdom of proverbs. The proverbs created and published by historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin are well known, as are numerous anonymous proverbs and related fortune cookie sayings. Unfortunately, proverbs are generally related to matters of general interest rather than tailored to the particular interests of individuals. It would be amusing to some people if proverbs could comment on matters of individualized interest.
Numerical and textual information can be represented in many ways. Computers, by way of example, use voltage levels, changes in magnetic flux, and other means to represent information. Many methods are known for converting between forms of representation while retaining the meaning of the underlying numerical or textual information. By way of example, the base 10 number xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d may be represented as the physical digit xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d, the physical digits xe2x80x9c10xe2x80x9d in base 2 notations, or as a sequence of voltage levels which represent the digits xe2x80x9c10xe2x80x9d in base 2 notations. Regardless of the form of representation, however, the base 10 number xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d is generally thought to be meaningless outside of some known context. For example, xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d may refer to the number of floors in a building, the number of people in a room, the number of pencils in a desk drawer, and so forth.
Some forms of representation hold special significance for people and may become psychologically detached from the underlying object of the representation. In other words, the context in which the representation exists is ignored. A common example of this phenomenon is age. To illustrate, the nominal lifespan for dogs is sometimes taken to be approximately 11 years, while the nominal lifespan for humans is sometimes taken to be approximately 77 years. This leads to the relation that seven xe2x80x9cdog yearsxe2x80x9d pass in the span of one human or calendar year. Thus, it is sometimes said that a five year old dog is actually 35 years old. That the xe2x80x9c35 yearsxe2x80x9d refers to artificial xe2x80x9cdog yearsxe2x80x9d is ignored and the dog is regarded as if it should behave, in some sense, as if it were a 35 (calendar) year old human. A clock for keeping time at an animal""s rate was taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,850, entitled xe2x80x9cClock for Keeping Time at a Rate Other Than Human Timexe2x80x9d and issued Jun. 11, 1991 to Metts et al.
In some areas, for example with regard to age, personal names, and common proverbs, it has not generally been recognized that the human ability to focus on representation while ignoring context can be manipulated in an electronic data processing system to produce constructs that some people find highly amusing.
An object of the invention is to provide a method of symbol manipulation in an electronic data processing system that alters the representation of age by converting an expression of age in base 10 notation to an expression of age in an alternate base notation.
An object of the invention is to provide a method of symbol manipulation in an electronic data processing system that alters the representation of a name by converting a name and an adjective associated with the name to a cognate form of the name and a synonym of the adjective.
An object of the invention is to provide a method of symbol manipulation in an electronic data processing system that alters the representation of proverbs by producing a proverb from a phrase and an adjective.
A preferred embodiment of a method of the present invention, as broadly described herein, comprises the steps of inputting an expression of age in base 10 notation into an electronic data processing system, using the electronic data processing system to convert the expression of age in base 10 notation to an expression of age in an alternate base notation, and outputting the expression of age in the alternate base notation.
An alternate preferred embodiment of a method of the present invention, as broadly described herein, comprises the steps of inputting an input name and an input adjective into an electronic data processing system, using the electronic processing system to convert the input name to a cognate form; using the electronic data processing system to convert the input adjective to a synonym; and outputting the cognate form and the synonym.
An alternate preferred embodiment of a method of the present invention, as broadly described herein, comprises the steps of inputting an input phrase and an input adjective into an electronic data processing system, using the electronic data processing system to select a proverb form corresponding to the input adjective, using the electronic data processing system to insert the input phrase into the proverb form, and outputting the proverb form with the inserted input phrase.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part are obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may also be realized and attained by means of the steps, instrumentalities and combinations particularly set out in the appended claims.